Team MGMA Chapter 4
by TeamMGMA
Summary: The Fourth Installment in the series, Those who revel in the shadows reveal themselves as Team mgma, beacon, and the entire kingdom of vale now know their true enemy.


Let Us Burn

Modriot was starting to get irritated. Was it some kind of cosmic lesson that had brought her back to Beacon? In another timeline, she was dead, having bled out on the desert floor of Vacuo at the hands of Yang Xiao Long. Now she was here, leading a team in the very school she had put to the torch. It smacked of irony, and it was nothing short of aggravating.

Both Aiden and Jacen had insisted upon breakfast, so the four of them were walking from the dormitories to the cafeteria. Beacon was a large boarding school, so it could be a lengthy walk to get from place to place. They were all surprisingly quiet, perhaps the deep grayness of the morning had brought on a sense of somberness. There was a sense of unease in the air, and it was close to the point of suffocation.

Jacen stopped, his face turned upward and his eyes closed, as it he was listening for something. The rest of the group stopped and looked at him, no one wanting to be the one to break the silence. Finally, Aiden spoke up. "Um, are you okay over there?"

Jacen's eyes popped open wide, then he grabbed Aiden's sleeve and started pulling. "We have to move! Do you hear that whistling?" There was a look of utter terror on his face as he started to run in an angle away from the cafeteria and up past the dormitories. "There's an entrance to an underground garage, but we need to move quickly!" Modriot listened hard, then started following Jacen, the whistling starting to become much more audible. Mallaithe kept pace with Modriot, something akin to growing terror on her face.

They sped like bullets, Jacen leading the pack. Some other students stared at them curiously as they streaked by, but some of them starting looking towards the sky. Suddenly, a loud alarm blared across the courtyard, accompanied by Professor Ozpin's voice. "Students, please evacuate to lower ground. I repeat, please evacuate to. . ." His voice was cut off as something smashed into the center spire of Beacon.

There was a deafening explosion as all four of them were thrown back. Fragments rained down above them, and more explosions were heard in the distance, accompanied by screams from the township. There was a loud whistle in the sky, followed by another earthquaking detonation. The school was burning, and students were dying. There were already bodies trapped under rubble and half scorched bodies trying to crawl their way out from remnants of the center spire. Shards of luminescent green glass flew like daggers from the heavens, crashing into flesh and stone like poisoned icicles. Jacen looked up from his position on his stomach, dazed and his vision blurry. He fuzzily noticed that a shard was coming for him, its point glittering wickedly with light caught from the fires that had sprung up all around. Before he could react, a dark shape moved in front of him and leapt up, spinning in the air and kicking it out the way. The form landed, then turned and offered him a hand to help him to his feet. "Get up, douchebag. We don't have time for this." Aiden's voice accompanied the hand, the sting of the words lessened by the teasing tone. Jacen took it, and hauled himself to his feet, shaking his head to clear it. "You hit your head, so don't try nothing stupid immediately, 'kay?"

Looking around, Jacen saw Modriot and Mallaithe not too far away. Modriot was on her knees, trying to desperately get a breath of air in her lungs. Mallaithe had her daggers drawn and was trying to keep any fallout from striking Modriot. Fear kept flicking across the petite girl's face, but she kept determinedly trying to swallow it, trying to emulate the Huntress she wanted to be. Modriot finally got to her feet, swaying slightly. She was looking better, but there was a strange look on her face, like the cross between annoyance and delight. A sizeable chunk of debris came flying at her, and Modriot swatted it away from her like it was nothing more than a fly. "MGMA, gather to me!" She commanded imperiously.

Aiden and Jacen came over to them, making sure that they were safe from any more flying masonry. The spire was crumbling, but the fires were spreading to the Emerald Forests beyond the school, and the baying of Beowulves were raising into a hellish crescendo amidst the screams of the humans. Suddenly, with eerie clarity, a voice was laughing. All of them looked up, and noticed the amidst the wreckage of the base of the spire, there was a darkly dressed woman with her arms out, head thrown back to the darkening skies. Her palms were glowing with a black light, and the clouds above her were starting to move, starting to come and coalesce into a thick blanket of obscurity. Her laugh seemed to hold the cry of the Grimm and the lament of the students. "This school shall be razed, and I will dance in its ashes!" She shrieked wildly, her words accompanied by manic laughter. Her long inky hair waved around her face like it was alive, likening her to a Gorgon. A man stood next to her, watching the despair with a pleased expression. Abruptly, it morphed into sheer delight as dark shapes starting filling the courtyard.

Grimm was starting to gather at the school, and ravaging the corpses of the dead and the panicking living. Nevermore descended as desolation from the skies, carrying off the still-shrieking living before dropping them off the cliffside. Ursai and Beowolves charged those who were attempting to form a frontline defense, tearing holes in their ranks. Some students were holding their own, fighting back with a steely determination. Jacen recognized the newly formed CBLT from initiation, fighting in an outward facing circle, trusting the others to watch their backs. Some students were trying to clear teammates, both living and dead, from the rubble while others fought to protect them.

Unexpectedly, a flash of red and white flicked in front of the members of MGMA. There, before them, stood two women. One with short red and black hair, shielded in a cloak and mantle, wielding a massive scythe. The other with a long, impossibly white ponytail on the side of her head and a snowflake on the back of her jacket, holding a delicate looking rapier. They stood their ground against the wailing madwoman, who was facing them now and pointing to them. "Who are you?!" She demanded. "You and those whelps behind you that you assume you can protect?!"

The one in the cloak turned and smiled at the students behind her, flashing brilliantly silver eyes. She turned back to the woman and answered in a strong voice "I am Ruby Rose of team RWBY, and this is Weiss Schnee, my partner. If you don't halt your attack, I won't be responsible for what happens next." The woman in white, Weiss Schnee, turned to face the students and motioned for them to answer. She also turned back and fixed the woman with a steely gaze. Modriot stiffened her spine and spoke out in ringing tones, conveying supreme authority. Around her, her teammates took up fighting positions; Jacen had materialized Starduster in his hands as his massive greatsword, Mallaithe with Veil and Blind in her hands, Aiden with his twin pistols, Crosshairs, held at the ready. "We are team MGMA, and if you don't stop it now, bitch, you'll get everything that's coming to you."

The woman blinked at the harsh answer, then laughed again. Her eyes that focused on Modriot were wild and dark as sin. "You'll be fun to play with, if you survive. But if you're bent on being magma, then I guess I'll just have to let you burn!" Two figures seemed to materialize next to her and the man, weapons ready.

The woman's manic screeching of "kill them!" rose into the air, accompanied by the howling of Beowulves and the crashing of steel. It would soon provide the soundtrack to the ensuing battle.

To The Roses

The two figures that had struck forward turned out to be a girl and a boy. The girl was a lean specimen with wild tawny hair that stuck out in all directions. She has the ears of lion sticking out from her mane, and surprisingly, a set of thin whiskers coming from her face. She was dressed in hot reds and oranges, looking more like a living flame. On her hands were two gauntlets, completely encasing her hands in metal. The tips of the fingers tapered out into long points that glittered wickedly in the firelight, and she held her hands outwards in a ready stance, her lips drawn back in a cruel smile to reveal pointed fangs. The man next to her did not look so ready for battle as she was, but he still carried a large curved bow and a quiver slung around his hip. The arrow that he drew and nocked looked more like the branch of a juvenile tree and would have been more suited towards skewering a whole boar. His eyes were ice blue and just as cold, carefully scanning the six combatants in from of him. He was dressed in hunting leathers, and his silvery hair was slicked back, the tips of it brushing his ears and his neck. His large spearlike arrow was pointed at Weiss, who in turn, had taken a defensive position with her delicate rapier Myrtenaster.

There was a screech of metal and Weiss shot forward, the length of Myrtenaster inscribed with glistening white sigils. She flicked the blade down in a punishing swipe, and a arc of flame exploded from the tip of the blade. It sailed straight for the archer, who didn't even move. The lion girl jumped in front of him and forward, her iron claws out to meet the flames. She swiped through them like they were nothing more than water, then landed in a forward roll. She landed on her knees in a defensive kneel before jetting forward, claws reaching for Weiss. Weiss leapt up and turned in midair, her booted feet toward the sky. A white glyph appeared under her boots and she pressed against it before using it as a platform to send her spiraling down, Myrtenaster held out like a long quill. She came to earth with another screech of metal, nearing skewering the lion girl. The archer came forward, one of his long arrows held like a spear in his hands.

Ruby sped past him, Crescent Rose in her hands and the blade angled like a glaive. She struck him on her journey past him, knocking him back a few feet. He skidded past, his boots seeking purchase against the ground. He dug the tip of the spear into the earth, also helping to stop his motion. He pulled it out and held it up, knowing better than to charge her. He was waiting for her to come to him. Ruby held Crescent Rose in front of her, and offered him a small smile, her silver eyes reflecting the fire like mirrors. Suddenly, she flourished her scythe and buried the tip into the ground. She sank lower until one of her knees touched the ground and the handle was braced against her shoulder. Gunshots rang out as she kept her aim on the archer, the high caliber bullets streaking through the air. He held his own, using the large broadhead point to block the bullets and redirect them elsewhere. He advanced towards her, the shaft whirling like a maelstrom. Ruby marked his progression and then ripped Crescent Rose from the ground, charging him. She held the scythe perpendicular to her body and used her speed to send herself into at him like a bladed hurricane. He lashed out with the shaft, timing it just right so that the butt end of the spear reached into the fury and struck her squarely in the forehead.

Ruby stumbled from the sudden impact, losing her grip on Crescent Rose and tripping over the large weapon. She came to the ground, landing with a resounding thud. Crescent Rose skittered away from her, and she laid on the earth, a dazed expression chasing across her features. The archer came to her, the broadhead held down like he meant to drive the point into her flesh. Abruptly, Ruby lashed out with her foot, knocking him down with a sweep kick to his ankles. He fell unceremoniously, landing in a sprawled heap. Ruby tried to get up to grab Crescent Rose, but the archer grabbed her ankle and pulled, causing her tumble back down. He drew a long hunting knife from his waist belt, and tried to bring it down cruelly on her face. Ruby lunged to her left, avoiding the blade. Cupping her hand, she brought harshly against the archer's head, directly over his ear. The sudden impact knocked his head sideways, and his grip loosened. Ruby took this chance to ball her fist and crack him across the face, directly on the bridge of his nose.

His nose spurted crimson blood like a broken faucet, staining and blending into her cape. She kicked upwards with her other foot, connecting squarely in his diaphragm. He grunted, but made no indication that he was going to let go. Instead, he mustered some strength and heaved, flipping Ruby onto her stomach. His knife flashed once in the light, then Ruby screamed, a sound like a wounded animal. Blood was coming from her calf where he had hamstrung her. She tried to crawl away, her Aura surrounding her and flaring red. She unsteadily got to her feet, swaying. The archer stood as well, facing her with his knife held high, the blade covered in her blood. He lunged at her, but he was knocked backwards as Weiss came at him, both boots connecting with his face. She landed in a graceful manner, but froze as she turned around to face Ruby.

Ruby's head was being held by the lion girl, who had been unnoticed most of the battle. She smiled wickedly, taking in Weiss' disbelief. Ruby had extended out her arm, reaching out her hand towards Weiss, her silver eyes full of tears. In that moment, time stood still and the sound of Ruby's neck snapping seemed to fill the air with a hellish clarity.

Weiss' screaming went to the middle of Modriot's head and rang there with the clarion brazenness of a brass bell. It seemed like it didn't even pass through her eardrums, but had passed through bone and blood and brain matter. All she and the rest of her team could do was just watch as the lion girl stepped away from Ruby's corpse and watch her body fall into a crumpled heap, her cloak swathing her. Weiss staggered over to her and dropped to her knees, Myrtenaster clattering to the ground next to her. She gathered Ruby into her arms and held her close, weeping into the girl's body. Ruby's silver eyes, already mirrorlike in life, were glazed and reflective in death, staring doll-like into the distance. Her body slightly shook as Weiss held her, Weiss' own body racked with sobs that seemed to be dredged from the very bottom of her soul.

The archer stayed silent, but the lion girl laughed madly, her laughter mixed with Weiss' sobs, providing another layer in the already eerie symphony of civilian screams and Grimm howls. She stood over Weiss, then kicked her in the head, knocking her backwards and Ruby from her arms. Weiss crawled forward, trying to collect Ruby again. The lion girl kicked her in the head again, knocking her further back. A rivulet of blood blossomed on Weiss' forehead, trailing over her left eye and obscuring her scar.

"Stop it!" Mallaithe screamed at the girl, her voice flushed with anger. She swiftly unhooked a knife from her belt and flung it at the lion girl, who caught it. "What's this sorry excuse for a weapon?" she asked scathingly, holding it up to inspect it. Mallaithe smiled viciously, an expression that looked completely alien on her face. She reached for her wrist and tapped on her watch, and the knife exploded in the lion girl's grasp.

Next to Mallaithe, Aiden burst out laughing. The cloud of smoke cleared from around the lion girl's head, and her face was nearly purple with rage and studded with shards of ceramic. "I will kill you for that, Spook!" She screamed at Mallaithe, one clawed finger pointing at her. Modriot watched as Mallaithe's face convulsed into that vicious smile again. "I am the Spook Monster, and I will give you the nightmares that you deserve." The lion girl charged forward, her voice rising to a roar. Jacen and Aiden came to stand in front of Mallaithe, waiting. "You want her, you have to go though us first." Jacen said, gripping the hilt of Starduster in anticipation.

The four of them scattered, and the lion girl skidded to a halt in the empty clearing. She looked around, screaming hoarsely. "Come out, you cowards! I want to eat your hearts!" She zeroed in on Aiden, who stood opposing her, Crossfire in his hands. He smiled invitingly at her, then remarked absentmindedly as he put on his gas mask. "You know, you would be so much more pretty if you would just stop screaming."

Jacen stood back to back with Aiden, Starduster hefted across one shoulder. The archer was facing him, his nose still bleeding lightly. His eyes looked like flecks of ice set in his face, and he had pulled another of his arrows of his quiver and held it in his other hand, dual wielding with an alarming proficiency. "Let's see how you do against someone more of your own size. Come at me, bro!" Jacen smacked his free hand against his chest, his chin tilted up as he stared his challenge to his opponent. The archer smiled back thinly, then motioned his own "come at me" with his arrows.

Modriot has disappeared, but she knew what she was meant to do. She knew that none of her teammates were physically strong enough to tangle with the madwoman who was still shrieking to the skies. She watched from her vantage point as Mallaithe stepped up and challenged the man who was the woman's safeguard, but he didn't even acknowledge her presence. Instead, he had gone and linked hands with the woman and the darkness started to grow, completely obscuring the sky and was starting to swallow the light thrown by the fire. Mallaithe knew better than to attack the pair of them together. Instead, she made her way to Weiss' sobbing form, who was cradling Ruby's body to her chest and rocking back and forth in her grief. She was trying to get Weiss to stand and move.

Modriot crept closer and analyzed her targets. Obviously, it was the woman who seemed to be the most important, and she would be the one who needed to feel the bite of death. The man didn't seem to be that much of threat, but that could easily be a front. She knew that it was a bad idea to write off every well-dressed dandy as a weakling or an ornament. He was probably just as deadly as the woman in his own right. She didn't think that she needed her weaponry yet, but this was going to be a fight that would require her other arm. Gathering her concentration, she focused. She could feel the magic uncoil in her stomach like a dormant dragon, rising from its sleep. It slithered along her body like poisoned water, until it pooled at the stump of her missing arm. It twisted and turned and built on itself until there was fully formed arm of dark luminescent magic where there used to be none. She flexed her fingers experimentally, and then took a deep breath. This was going to be a defining moment, she just knew it.


End file.
